The Circus Is In Town!

Heated words, no more
Dueling events feature sharb jabs, but no violence

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/19/2011 10:37:46 PM PDT

CLAREMONT - Armed for a war of words with megaphones and sharp tongues, about 30 people from the National Socialist Movement and 400 to 500 anti-Nazi protesters taunted each other Saturday during two rallies drawing attention to America's policy on immigration.

"We have more white people than you," came a barb from someone with the anti neo-Nazi group, which stood at the southeast corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards. "How does it feel?"

Jeff Hall, Southwest States regional director of the neo-Nazi group fired back, "It feels good not to be scared. It's all about quality, not quantity."

The group said they came to protest illegal immigration and to show there are other viewpoints than just Claremont College Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, yells at Josh Davenport of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, as the group rallied on Saturday on the corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards in Claremont. (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer) students who were for "open borders."

Being outnumbered didn't faze the Nazi group, many of whom had bald heads, black or fatigue-style clothing and U.S. flags with swastikas.

They claimed victory Saturday.

"You said you were going to stop us, but you didn't. Thank you for being tools and showing up here today," Hall said on his megaphone.

Hall would use his megaphone to get his group to chant or incite the hundreds across the street while police officers and yellow police tape blocked people from reaching them.

The neo-Nazi chants included "White power," "Whose streets? Our streets," "Heil Hitler" and "If it's brown, flush it down."

A woman in the Nazi group took off an overshirt to reveal a black shirt that read "because the beauty of the white Aryan woman must not perish from the earth ..."

Responses from the other side included chants like "Nazis go home" or insults such as "No matter how hard you try you will not be Edward Norton," which was a reference to the Norton movie "American History X."

Another neo-Nazi, who only gave his first name of Ken, said he was a 44-year-old mechanic who lives in Claremont.

He claimed there were Claremont College students and Claremont police who were part of the neo-Nazi group but declined to say more when asked for specifics.

Neo-Nazi member Josh Davenport, 27, of Las Vegas, and Hall, of Riverside, said they considered the event a success because of potential new membership.

"We saw such a huge spike on a national level and new interest we have had a hard time keeping up with it," Hall said. [He's probably right. - Dan.]

The Nazi protest lasted from noon until about 1:30 p.m.

There were 16 police agencies and more than 110 officers to provide security for the rally, which ended with no arrests or property damage, Claremont police Lt. Mike Ciszek said.

"It went extremely well, and we definitely appreciated mutual aid that came out," Ciszek said. "We would have been overwhelmed in a second if things would have gone bad. It's great to see law enforcement come together for a purpose."

The alternative peace rally, which started at 10 a.m., was held three blocks away at Memorial Park. A large group from the peace rally then walked over to protest the neo-Nazi's presence on Foothill Boulevard.

When the approximately 30 neo-Nazis walked to their location, a small number of protesters confronted them, yelling into a megaphone "garbage" over and over.

Raymond Herrera, founder and president of the Claremont-based anti-illegal immigration group We the People, California's Crusader, was at the event and again said he opposed the neo-Nazi rally.

Herrera said his organization does not join racist groups like neo-Nazi, La Raza or the Ku Klux Klan.

As he spoke, some of the neo-Nazi protesters turned to him and questioned why he hated illegal immigrants, but he did not answer them.

Chris Baca, 35, of Riverside, was part of the anti neo-Nazi rally and briefly confronted them.

"This is racism," he said. "They're claiming they're white when they're not white themselves. I think they're sad. White people were the first illegal immigrants in the country."

Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, also was able to verbally confront the neo-Nazis and said he remembered confronting the Nazis 30 years ago "back in El Monte." [Frank Collins' Group - Dan.]

Art Gamboa, 50, of Maywood, said he opposed the neo-Nazis.

"I don't think nothing is going to stop these guys," he said.

Hall added he thought Claremont police did a great job in organizing the event and "took it seriously."

There are no immediate plans of coming back to Claremont for another rally, Hall said.

Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker said he was relieved the event was peaceful.

"The First Amendment freedom of speech worked. I'm happy it all concluded with no violence of any kind," Parker said.

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Comment:

What a waste of time! What did they accomplish? I'll admit that the showing of about 30 was impressive, but the opposition was still about 12 to 0ne, in favour of the opposition! Not surprising.

Claremont is an extremely liberal area. I lived there for four years in the late 70's. I even graduated from Claremont High School. It's home to the Claremont Colleges, five Ivy League Schools including Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College. Indeed, when I lived there, many of the professors were aging Hippies still with long hair, tie-dyed shirts, and love beads. The residents would definitely NOT be very receptive.

Take a note of the first photo. What is the point of all those racist tattoos? For one thing, what does that do for anyone? Also, who would give anyone an honest job with his face, as well as his body covered with tattoos, racialist or other kinds, except maybe in a circus sideshow?

Mr. Hall was wrong when he called the counter-protesters "tools". It was he and the NSM that were the tools. They came out there with the express purpose of rabble-rousing and gaining publicity, and they did succeed. They succeeded in giving the Jewsmedia another chance at trashing the White Nationalist Movement. Congratulations guys, you made ALL of us look bad. You better believe that in the next elections, if any of us run in that area, this will all be stirred up again by the press.

In closing, I'd actually like to thank Raymond Herrerra, who is obviously Latino, for speaking the truth regarding La Raza. He called it a racist organisation, which it is.

Tomorrow: The "other" rally in Memorial Park.